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The first beta release of GLX-Dock 2.2 is now available for those looking to add a Mac OS X-like dock to their Linux desktop. The GLX-Dock 2.2 release is focusing upon improving four core areas of this open-source application dock: being unobtrusive yet useful and simple while also introducing a new panel view.

For those not preoccupied by any Independence Day celebrations in the United States, the long overdue release of Compiz 0.9 is out and ready for testing! Compiz 0.9 represents a major rewrite and overhaul of this compositing manager.

Back in March we reported that the release of Compiz 0.9 was finally approaching. The Compiz 0.9.x branch is still developing, but now there is a call-out for testing of this newest compositing manager code by the community.

More than a year ago we first talked about some of the Compiz 0.9 plans that involved merging Nomad and Compiz++ into Compiz and a host of other changes after the future of Compiz was called into question. Compiz Fusion was dropped too and Compiz++ is the C++ rewrite and also brings several other changes, such as Compiz no longer being just a compositing window manager, but the different components have been separated out.

While Compiz 0.9 failed to make it out by Christmas and there still are no signs of an imminent release for this popular compositing manager, when it is released it will offer support for the KDE 4.4 Software Compilation. Committed to the Compiz Git code-base last night were KDE4 window decorator changes to make it compatible with this just-released desktop environment update that incorporates six months worth of work from the KDE development community.

It's been a while since last talking about the Compiz project as they simply haven't had any new releases or major developments in a while. Early this year the developers did announce that Nomad and Compiz++ would merge into Compiz and that Compiz Fusion would be dropped and other changes planned. In late August Compiz 0.9 went into beta, which carried some of this work, but since then there haven't been any new snapshots of this next major Compiz release.

Compiz 0.9 still isn't out yet (though it should be coming soon) with its Nomad and Compiz++ integration and Compiz Fusion dropping, but in the meantime Compiz 0.8.4 has been pushed out this afternoon.

It has been a while since last talking about the Compiz compositing manager with their last v0.8 release coming some six months ago, but in fact things have remained busy and now they are finally approaching the 0.9 release in the coming months. As we reported last year and at the start of this year, Compiz Fusion is being dropped, Compiz++ came about as a rewrite of Compiz in C++ and also separated out the compositing and window management responsibilities, and then it was agreed upon that Compiz++ and NOMAD would merge into Compiz. Well, most of this work is nearing completion and soon the first Compiz 0.9 Beta will be available.

For those that missed it, Xfce 4.6.1 was released this week. It features a series of bug-fixes and minor improvements atop the recently released Xfce 4.6.0 code-base. The announcement regarding Xfce 4.6.1 can be read here.

Compiz 0.8 was branched from master back in November, but only today do we now have the v0.8.0 release of Compiz. Since that point the future of Compiz was called into question and Compiz++ had emerged as a C++ rewrite of Compiz that also brings a separation of the Composite and OpenGL layers, a new plug-in design, and other changes.

With a new day comes new announcements from the Compiz development community. Earlier this week it was announced that Nomad and Compiz++ would merge back into Compiz and then yesterday it was made known that Compiz Fusion will be dropped and other changes are coming down the road for this compositing window manager. Kristian Lyngstol has today shared the release plans for Compiz 0.8.0.

Yesterday we shared that Compiz++ and Nomad would be merged back into Compiz and today there are even more announcements coming out of the Compiz camp. With Compiz not having a clear road-map, a Compiz council has been established to begin charting the future of this compositing window manager. Besides merging Compiz++ and Nomad back into the mainline Compiz code-base, this five-member council has also agreed to merge Compiz and Compiz Fusion together into a single system as well.

In late 2008 we witnessed the release of Compiz++, a rewrite of the Compiz core in C++ plus other invasive work in order to improve this compositing window manager. With Compiz++ being a branch of Compiz and various other developers working on their own branches, the future of Compiz was unclear, however, today it has been cleared up some.

Xfce 4.6 was originally supposed to be released back in 2008, but it's been slow in making it out the door. The third beta release though has been tagged and Xfce desktop developers are beginning to enter a string freeze. In Xfce 4.6 Beta 3 are many improvements, bug fixes, and language translation updates, which can be read about here. The release announcement can be read in their news section.

Rather than announcing a road-map for 2009 or sharing all of the accomplishments this year that were made within the Compiz development community, Kristian Lyngstol has shared some grave concerns for this project that brought "desktop bling" to Linux. Kristian has outlined a few areas that that he believes need to be addressed otherwise it could mean the death of Compiz. Compiz in fact is just losing developers at this point and with the different forks taking place there is much stagnation occurring within Compiz.

First there was Compiz, a compositing window manager that brought very interesting desktop effects to Linux, and then Beryl came about as a fork of Compiz before it ultimately turned into Compiz Fusion. Today though, on Christmas eve, the world can now meet Compiz++.

Back in September the first alpha of Xfce 4.6 was released and since then we've already reached the second beta for this lightweight open-source desktop environment. Hopper is the codename for Xfce 4.6 Beta 2 and it incorporates a great number of bug-fixes, xfwm4 keyboard shortcuts are now reconfigurable again, session management has been improved, and it's now possible to set the desktop wallpaper through the right-click menu in the Thunar file manager.

15 November 2008 - New Work On This Lightweight Desktop - Add A Comment

Last month was the first alpha release for Xfce 4.6. We had provided an in-depth analysis of this Xfce 4.6 update (with screenshots) that added in a number of new improvements and other features. Today though the first beta release for Xfce 4.6 (codenamed "Fuzzy") is now available.

Last week we were greeted by the release of Compiz 0.7.8 and out today is now Compiz Fusion 0.7.8. In this update to Compiz Fusion there is improved performance, memory leak fixes, support for the new tool-tip system in GTK 2.12+, improved start-up time for the new Compiz Fusion settings manager, and plenty of other bug-fixes. The release announcement for Compiz Fusion 0.7.8 with full change-log can be found on the FusionDev mailing list.

Back in May we had the release of Compiz 0.7.6 with rewritten plug-ins and other changes to boost the vitality of this popular compositing manager. Since then all activity on the Compiz front has been relatively quiet, until this morning. Danny Baumann has announced the release of Compiz 0.7.8.

Just shy of two months since Compiz 0.7.4 was released, Compiz 0.7.6 is now available. This update has a rewritten Place plug-in to dramatically improve multi-output behavior, configurable multi-output behavior, removed plane plug-in in favor of the wall plug-in, removed cube wallpaper painting in favor of the Compiz Fusion wallpaper plug-in, panel and desktop selection mode is now available in the switcher plug-in, and improved painting behavior. There are also improvements to both the Gtk-window-decorator and KDE4-window-decorator as well as various bug-fixes. The Compiz 0.7.6 release announcement can be read on the Compiz mailing list.

Skipping a Compiz 0.7.3 release, the Open Compositing community has this morning released Compiz 0.7.4. Since Compiz 0.7.2, there is now configurable handling of overlapping output devices, enhanced focus stealing prevention, configurable/optional delay for edge actions, and unredirection of fullscreen windows. Topping off the list is a generalized vertex system to improve plug-in compatibility and optimized gaussian blur shaders. There is also updated translations and several bug-fixes. The release announcement, source download links, and the complete change-log is available off the Compiz mailing list.

Compiz 0.7.0 was released one month ago and introduced multi-display support, API improvements, a simple object system, and a KDE 4 port of the kde-window-decorator (among other changes). Today though both the Compiz and Compiz Fusion communities are announcing new versions. The biggest change in Compiz 0.7.2 is wrap-able session functions added to the Compiz core, which makes it possible to perform full session save/restores within a plug-in. This minor Compiz update also has updated translations and other bug-fixes. The Compiz 0.7.2 announcement can be read on their mailing list.

Since the October release of Compiz 0.6 (and Compiz Fusion 0.6) followed by a minor update, it's been pretty quiet on the "desktop bling" front for the past few months. Today, however, the Open Compositing team is announcing the availability of Compiz 0.7.0. Compiz 0.7 introduces a core plug-in for handling certain core APIs in a similar fashion to the plug-in APIs. In addition, Compiz now has a simple object system that presents some underlying benefits. For the Compiz user, there is now multi-display support, various fixes in stacking and handling, configurable middle and right click buttons through gtk-window-decorator, and a KDE 4 port of the kde-window-decorator. The Compiz 0.7.0 release announcement can be read on the FreeDesktop mailing list.

It's a bit late seeing as Xfce 4.4.1 was released back in April, but Xfce 4.4.2 is now available for download. Xfce 4.4.2 addresses bugs present in the Xfce 4.4 series along with updated translations. The complete Xfce 4.4.2 change-log is available on their project web-site as well as the release announcement.

In our information recapping the OpenSolaris Developer Summit we mentioned Ian Murdock's Project Indiana would be compatible with Compiz. Asked on the Indiana discussion list today though was whether Compiz would be enabled by default. The decision is that Compiz will not appear in the Project Indiana LiveCD but that it will be available through their official network repository. A Sun developer has even already created the Compiz packages for Project Indiana. The first technical preview of Project Indiana should be available later this month.

The Compiz folks have had version 0.6.0 out for three weeks (and now Compiz 0.6.2) and today the Compiz Fusion team is out with Compiz Fusion v0.6.0, which is also their first official stable release. The complete details are available in their release announcement.

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